Bitfinex Starts Sharing Clients’ Tax Data To Public Authorities

May 18, 2018

Bitfinex, the exchange known for its nontransparent bank contracts, began asking its customers for tax data in a mandatory manner. The platform registered at the British Virgin Islands, is going to keep this information and share it with tax agencies in the jurisdiction of its clients. The news has resulted into real hue and cry.

In the e-mail sent to some of the users Bitfinex clarified the new policy KYC. As it became known, the platform finds it insufficient to know identity and location of its clients, now it is set for their tax details. As the mail noted, this meets the local law in the British Virgin Islands. But the exchange won’t leave it at that: the government of British Virgin Islands “may then exchange that information with the tax authorities of the customer’s country of residence”.

A number of Bitfinex customers have already expressed their wish to boycott the platform and initiate trading somewhere else. Due to transparency of blockchain cryptocurrency users are among the most sophisticated investors in the world. Many believe that the recent policy by Bitfinex regardless of its legal framework marks the first step in wrong direction. We can’t but note that this situation looks a little ironic provided Bitfinex itself operating in the country that is considered to be a haven for taxpayers while Tether, the exchange’s related company, has become recently the central figure in rumors about financial fraud.